Few names conjure up such instant respect in the scientific community as Smithsonian. The Smithsonian Institution has been a cornerstone of preservation and research in the United States for over 150 years. Surely, working for them must be a very exclusive opportunity, right? What if I told you that there was a way that you, as a citizen scientist, could contribute to making their collections more useful to the public? That’s exactly what you can do as a transcriptionist with the Smithsonian Digital Volunteers program.

The Smithsonian’s 19 museums obviously have extensive archives and special collections. However, many of those historical documents are handwritten. While these original primary documents are obviously precious from a historian’s perspective, they aren’t very functional from a practical standpoint. By transcribing photographs of these documents into a digital record, you’d be contributing to a massive effort to make these field notes, diaries, ledgers, log books, manuscripts, specimen labels, etc. more accessible. This project has five primary areas of focus:

Scientific Research: Transcription of handwritten collection labels will create millions of specimen data points available to the scientific community for research and discovery.

Education: From high school to graduate studies, transcription allows students to engage with primary source materials – a key part of the learning experience.

Readability: Transcription preserves these historic documents for future generations as practices like cursive handwriting are less emphasized in in school.

So how do you join the 6500 other volunteers who have already transcribed over 178,297 pages of archived material into digitally-accessible information? The process is super simple and surprisingly unintimidating (I mean, this is the Smithsonian!). You can browse projects that are available for transcription, and just choose the most recently added, or filter by institution–which is cool, because you can find one that’s a good fit with your interests. The Transcription Center provides a tips page with instructions on how to approach each type of document, as well as general guidelines for transcribing primary sources. You are encouraged to create an account, but you do not have to–you can transcribe anonymously, if you’d like, or with a username.

Keep in mind that this is a peer-reviewed process (as all good science is, right?): so anything you transcribe will be read, and possibly flagged for editing, by other volunteers. You can also volunteer to review others’ work–when you choose a project, you’ll see “start transcribing” or “start reviewing.” Just choose which role you’d like to fill. This ensures that everything that is ultimately submitted is of high quality, and hopefully gives you peace of mind that you don’t have to be a total expert to participate in this project. Everyone works together!

You don’t have to commit transcribing an entire project, or to a set number of words. You can jump from project to project, or if you only have a few minutes to spare, jump on and review a few paragraphs, making this a really flexible program. Be sure to check out Smithsonian Digital Volunteers if you’ve got a knack for citizen history, as well as science!

A new initiative is on a mission to improve mental health and wellbeing.

Project Soothe is working to create a database of soothing photographs that can be shared. The idea is that imagery can play an important role in mediating how we feel and that deliberately and consciously looking at calming images can help us feel better.

You can help Project Soothe in two ways.

First, you can help by answering a short survey. This survey will help researchers understand more about the characteristics of some of the images they have gathered and how these images may influence mood and wellbeing. Simply go to the Project Soothe website (link above) and click Participate and then click Rate Photos. After confirming your consent to participate, you will be asked to confirm your age, gender and country. You will then asked some general questions about your mood and wellbeing. You will also be asked to look at 25 images that members of the public have submitted to Project Soothe and tell the research team what you think and feel about them. As a bonus, you will also be given an opportunity to enter a draw to win a £30 (about $40 USD) Amazon gift voucher.

Second, you can contribute photos that you find calming to the database, and add your comments about them as well. These should be your own photos, and the copyright remains with you; do be aware that the photos may end up on public display and used in the database and in future research. If you have any questions about how this part works, read the explanation and consent form for photo submission carefully here: http://www.projectsoothe.com/submit-photos/4587215557

The project is led by Dr Stella Chan, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Other researchers include Prof Matthias Schwannauer (University of Edinburgh), Dr Fiona Ashworth (Anglia Ruskin University) and Ms Angela McLaughlin (University of Edinburgh).

We’ve all probably read about famous social and behavioral experiments where everyday people are asked to participate in and react to various scenarios (The Stanford Prison Experiment, or the marshmallow experiment, for example). Maybe we’ve even participated in a research study at a local university or hospital ourselves. While the results provide extremely useful insight into the human mind, conducting experiments in a traditional manner is expensive and time-consuming. The need for subjects has to be advertised, some kind of incentive is provided to convince candidates to travel to the site and give of their time, the researchers have to administer the experiment and record the data, and the the research pool has to be maintained. Not to mention, it’s sometimes difficult to find a diverse pool of participants in one geographical area, and find a day and time of the week that will work for a large group of people.

What if there were a simpler, more convenient, and less-expensive option available to social scientists who need data from human subjects? Volunteer Science may provide just that!

Volunteer Science is a “web laboratory” that allows interested citizen scientists the opportunity to get involved with a variety of social experiments. This tool with allow scientists to pull from a huge, globally-generated pool of data, thus accelerating research by speeding up collection and reducing costs. Volunteer Science is a collaboration with four well-known research universities, and they make every attempt to protect your privacy and rights as a human subject (you can read more about their specific guidelines here). You also must be 18 years or older to participate. Though the experiments take the form of games and surveys, they are very serious about maintaining the scientific integrity and ethical soundness of the information they collect through your contribution. This is real, legitimate science, folks!

When you enter the site, you have the option to play games or take surveys. Of course, in the name of science, I had to try both! I loved that there were a lot of options to choose from, and you can read the directions before you commit. The “game” (or experiment) that I chose to participate in had me playing against other players, in a “prisoner’s dilemma,” where we had to decide if we would testify against our accomplices in a crime. The survey I chose asked me a series of questions about how I would rate certain traits in myself, and then gave me a personality profile at the end (which was cool just for my own information–I’ve always had a thing for personality tests). Participation in each experiment took about 10-15 minutes, and they were both interesting and fun! If you enjoy online gaming and taking surveys, and have want to contribute to real academic behavioral studies at the same time, I’d highly recommend checking out Volunteer Science!

While this is clearly sobering, the good news is that there are opportunities for us to help, even those of us who don’t live near the coast. You see, pollution in all of our communities indirectly affects ocean systems. Trash is washed from sidewalks and streets into storm drains, which empty into streams and rivers. Eventually, those smaller waterways run to the ocean–that’s where much of those 17 billion pounds of plastic comes from! So, how can those of us who are worried about this cycle help out? That’s where the Shorecombers Trash Blast Leaders Workshop becomes an invaluable tool.

Shorecombers is a social enterprise that seeks to answer the question, “How can I make the biggest difference?” Project founder BJ Smith recognized, after her extensive involvement in community waterway clean-up events, that there was a lot of talent and motivation in the volunteer pool that was going to waste. With her background in business, she sought to create a training program for passionate people to learn skills they can take back to their communities. Instead of just managing a small, annual clean-up day, as is often the case, workshop participants will learn how to create clear plans of action and work smarter, not harder, to improve local clean water programs. According to Smith, “We train small groups and individuals because they are the foot soldiers most likely to carry out the work on the ground.”

The workshop is conducted virtually, so you don’t need to travel to a certain location to participate. They ask for a five-hour weekly time commitment: one hour teleseminar lecture, one hour teleseminar Q&A call, and three hours of homework. Here is a sneak peek of what will be covered in each lecture. Due to feedback from previous seminars, here are a few objectives that will be covered in upcoming sessions:

Get out of the rut of cleaning the same places every year

Work smarter not harder, control local program development, be proactive and not reactive

Empower future advocates to create program continuity

Become great organizers, create action plans and manage large projects

An organized approach to learning with information specialized to your needs and your particular water body and shoreline

Create dynamic and popular events all while doing what you love

If you’re interested in participating the workshop, this page includes the application. Shorecombers creates a cool opportunity for grassroots environmental enthusiasts to get the skills they need to be agents of change in their own communities!